The Square

The square represents the quarternity or the solidity of earth. It connotes dependability, honesty, shelter, and safety. It corresponds to the number four— elements of fire, water, air, earth. Psychologically, its form conveys firmness and stability, thus its frequent use in symbols of organization & construction (symbol for building in masonry). The town square symbolizes the activity center of a city— Trafalgar Square (London), Red Square (Moscow), Tiananmen Square (Beijing), Times Square (New York), and Ghirardelli Square (San Francisco). Many board games are played on squares— chess, checkers, and Go. “Returning to square one” means starting with the basics or returning to the origin. The square symbolizes the starting point of creativity when the artist faces an empty canvas or the poet a blank sheet of paper. Lao Tzu (circa 600 BC) says “The great square has no corners” (Tao Te Ching, XLI),which conjures the image of an unbounded square extending to infinity. The alchemical symbol of “squaring the circle” may be interpreted as bringing heaven (circle) to earth (square). This is the secret joy of artists and poets when their mind embraces the universe, making their canvas and paper shine with wonderful color and music for us to enjoy. Square Page Links: Infoseek found 1,783,602 pages containing the word “squares”. A Brief History of Checkers— http://www.primenet.com/~krow/history.htm (Checker Highlights from 1600 BC in Egypt to Modern tournaments) Chess on Stamps— http://www.tri.org.au/chess/ (Chess on postage stamps from 31 countries arranged neatly in tables by Colin Rose) History of Square Dancing— http://home.earthlink.net/~parnelldeb/SD/Misc.htm (Square Dance Eras from 1700's to Modern Times) Bob Lafleur's Square Dancing Resource List— http://pages.map.com/~bobl/sdance.htm (Square Dance Web Pages, Callers, Clubs, Organizations) Quilt Blocks Page— http://ttsw.com/QuiltBlocksPage.html (Patterns for quilt blocks in various sizes) Sculpture at Trafalgar Square— http://www.speel.demon.co.uk/other/trafalga.htm (Lord Nelson's column 170 ft high at Trafalgar Square is the main hub of London) Moscow's Red Square— http://www.interknowledge.com/russia/moscow03.htm (The Russian National Tourist Office recommends it as the first stop in Moscow) Tiananmen Square Synopsis— http://www.students.uiuc.edu/~crisosto/ealc140/synopsis.html (Chinese students' uprising at Tiananmen Square, June 4, 1989) Times Square Fact Sheet— http://www.times-square.org/html/body_fact_sheet.htm (93 years of New Year celebrations at Times Square) Ghirardelli Square— http://www.ghirardellisq.com/ (Visit this San Francisco landmark for chocolates, shopping, & dining) Ask Dr. Math About Squares & Cubes— http://forum.swarthmore.edu/dr.math/tocs/squareroot.high.html (High School Level Math Forum on Square & Cube Roots) Knot Square— http://www.cs.ubc.ca/nest/imager/contributions/scharein/KnotSquare.html (Mathematical knots by Robert Scharein, Math Dept., University of British Columbia)

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© Peter Y. Chou, WisdomPortal.com P.O. Box 390707, Mountain View, CA 94039 email: peter@wisdomportal.com (updated 7-27-98)